


Tunnel Vision

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 22:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6131545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything that has ever been stolen from Dick Grayson, he gets back, no matter what. Damian is no exception.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tunnel Vision

**Author's Note:**

> The second fic of the day where I just. Don’t know what I’m doing. But for @thegalacticpope because she inspired it and it’s all her fault and she has asked me repeatedly this weekend to wreck her soul, so. Here you go, chica~

He remembers like it was yesterday, even all these months later.

He remembers the chaos. The bloodshed. The loudness. He remembers the surprise. The scramble to defend. The overwhelming numbers.

But most of all he remembers the end.

He remembers turning just in time to see Talia sneak up behind her son, and grab him. He remembers Damian struggling in her hold, his sheer strength being overwhelmed by the simple fact his mother was taller than him. He remembers Talia running, remembers punching his most recent attacker in the face and running after her.

He remembers Damian reaching for him. Being brave enough to _scream_ for him. He remembers reaching for his brother too, their fingers brushing over and over again, but never enough to latch. He remembers Talia’s guards piling onto him, but continuing forward anyway.

He remembers screaming himself. For Damian, for Talia to stop. For the woman to reconsider, for Bruce, to help him because _Talia was stealing their baby and he couldn’t save him._

He remembers getting free of the assassins. He remembers sprinting towards that rising helicopter. The one Talia had just climbed on to, with Damian still scrambling in her arms. He remembers letting loose a battle cry as he made one last desperate leap towards it.

He remembers Damian’s face, in that moment. Eyes wide in fear and face open in hope, as he still reached out, still begging for his older brother to rescue him.

“Grayson! Grayson _, please!_ ”

He remembers failing, and falling. Face first into the rough ground.

He remembers Damian still shrieking his name, even as the helicopter got too far out of reach, and took off across Gotham. His tiny voice echoing for what seemed like hours.

He remembered. Every second of every day since.

He remembered, especially now.

Now that he was storming the al Ghul compound with his three remaining siblings, no longer willing to play Bruce’s waiting game. _Diplomatic_ , he said. They could negotiate Damian’s safe return. It would take time, of course, but he could do it. Bruce could reason with Talia. It’d be no problem.

 _No_ , Dick mused with a deadly smirk, as Tim and Cass disarmed the first wave of guards that came at them, right inside the gates. He tightened the grip on the escrima sticks in his hands. _It wouldn’t be._

The first wave was taken down easily, and Dick was grateful when Jason started calling out to the others. Hints, details that only someone who had lived in this compound before could know. Laid out security plans, and the tech the buildings held. Gave suggestions on what they should hit first and when.

Dick couldn’t be bothered with any of that. He didn’t have time for plans or safety measures. He was there for one reason and one reason only. And he wasn’t going to stop until he found him.

He didn’t even look at Talia when she appeared. Didn’t slow when Ra’s appeared not long after. Let his siblings take care of them. Just continued forward. Kept his focus on the little boy he failed to save. On the little boy he wouldn’t fail again.

He kicked in every door. Looked in every hidden corner and dark crevice. His anger was starting to ebb, the more he found nothing. The fear was setting in, as he wondered if maybe, just maybe, Damian wasn’t _here_ at all.

He didn’t get the chance to let it get far, though. Didn’t get the chance to let his mind think of all the things ‘not here’ might mean – because suddenly Tim was in his ear.

“The study!” Tim announced breathlessly, desperately. “He’s being held in his grandfather’s study!”

Dick didn’t need anything else, and took off running. Barely breathed as he twisted around the maze of hallways, eyes darting into every doorway he came across.

It figured, the study would be in the very back of the complex. Behind secret walls and deceptive security. Have its own hoard of guards, with their own bundle of military-grade weapons.

Piece of cake.

He couldn’t hold back the gasp when he finally saw the door at the end of the corridor. Couldn’t slow as he approached it. Burst through it like it was as flimsy as the show curtain back at Haly’s.

The room was huge. Ornate. Empty.

At least at first glance. His eyes jerked around the room as he panted. Maybe there was another secret door. Maybe Ra’s had lied. Maybe-

 _There_.

Across the floor, in the back corner, behind a desk that seemed so small in a room so large. The boy behind it even smaller.

The sound of the door slamming open was still echoing in the rafters, the old man stationed beside the desk still moving to stand protectively in front of Damian. Damian, who was sitting up in the luxury chair, eyes nervous and sharp.

But then they registered who had just burst in, and then those sea-green orbs widened.

Dick kept breathing heavily, but felt a smile break out on his face, a bark of exasperated laughter escape his throat as, despite the old man’s warnings, Damian hopped from the chair and rounded the desk.

He was no longer in the Robin gear he’d been stolen in. Instead, it was a long, blue tunic, over a pair of white, loose pants. Barefoot, and those naked feet slapped noisily against the marble floor as Damian suddenly took off hopelessly across it.

Dick felt himself laugh again, this laugh repeating itself over and over, as he dropped his escrima sticks, and fell to his knees. As he watched Damian race across the room, as he opened his arms at the last second, and let Damian body-slam against him. As he caught him effortlessly, wrapped his arms around his littlest brother and rocked with the momentum.

“…You came.” Damian wheezed, as his chuckles finally subsided. “You came for me.”

“Of course I did.” Dick whispered, holding the back of Damian’s head. “As you’re so fond of telling me – what the hell would I do _without_ you?”

“You came.” Damian repeated, shoulders beginning to shake, even as he pressed his face further into Dick’s neck. “You _came_.”

“Cass and the boys did too.” Dick whispered against Damian’s cheek, even as he glanced up at movement from the old man, who was hesitantly approaching. “We’re all a mess with you gone, you know.”

The old man stood over them, and after a second, smiled. Nodded gratefully towards Dick. “There is a safer way out of here than the way you came. Might I show you?”

“Please.” Dick said softly, gathering Damian into his arms as he stood. Damian didn’t chastise or complain. Just wrapped his legs around Dick’s waist, squeezed his arms tighter around his neck. “…I’m sorry, Damian.”

Damian shook his head. “Thank you.” He sobbed. _“Thank you.”_

Dick knew he didn’t deserve that, because he let this happen in the first place. He didn’t say anything, though. Just leaned his cheek against Damian’s head, and pecked a kiss against his ear, as the old man revealed a staircase hidden behind a bookshelf.

He remembered the day Damian was taken like it was yesterday. It haunted him for months, and would, still, for months to come.

“Come on, kiddo.”

But now, he’d also remember this. Finding his brother, holding him again. His weight in his arms. The relief in his heart, the joy in his soul. He’d remember this, too. For years. For _lifetimes_.

Damian’s breath hitched with another sob, and Dick smiled.

“Let’s get you home.”


End file.
